The man who lived twice
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man who lived twice |
| Original title | Seconds |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1966 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Frankenheimer |
| script | Lewis John Carlino |
| production |
Edward Lewis John Frankenheimer |
| music | Jerry Goldsmith |
| camera | James Wong Howe |
| cut | Ferris Webster |
| occupation | |
| |
The man who twice lived (Original title: Seconds ) is an American science fiction - thriller from 1966. John Frankenheimer directed the in black and white film shot by David Ely 1963 published novel The Switched life with Rock Hudson in the lead role.
An aging bank employee accepts the offer of an anonymously operating company to start a new life with a changed name and appearance. However, this turns out not only to be empty of content, but also to be as constrained as its previous identity.
action
The aged banker Arthur Hamilton is dissatisfied with his life. One day he receives a call from his friend Charlie, who was believed to be dead. He tells him that he has started a new life under a different name, freed from the constraints of his previous existence. This was made possible by a covertly operating organization to which Charlie Arthur arranged the contact. Arthur signs a contract with the company under extortionate circumstances (drugged and filmed having sexual intercourse) that costs him a large part of his savings. He undergoes plastic surgery and takes on a new identity; Arthur's death is faked in a staged accident. As painter Tony Wilson he begins a new life in a beach house in California with the help of his assistant John.
During a walk on the beach he meets Nora Marcus and starts an affair with her. The comforts of being a Playboy, however, cannot mask the inner emptiness he feels. John organizes a cocktail party for Tony to get to know the neighbors. He gets drunk and tells the guests present about his past life. As a result, the previously exuberant mood changes and the guests fix Tony on his bed. John and Nora - both employees of the organization - explain to him that the guests are also “born again” (= “seconds”). The next day he receives a call from Charlie warning him that his behavior has put himself in great danger. Contrary to Charlie's warning, he visits his wife and pretends to be an acquaintance of her supposedly deceased husband. When Tony leaves the house, John and a group of "born again" people pick him up. Tony expresses the desire to start all over again.
Back at the organization, he is told that he has to find a new customer to restart the company, just as he was referred as a customer by Charlie, who also fell out of favor. Tony cannot or does not want to offer the organization any new prospects, which is why it decides to move on to the "next phase". He is woken up one morning and prepared for an operation. When a priest implicates him in conversation on the way to the operating room, Tony realizes that he is supposed to be used to simulate the death of a future "born again". In the last scene the surgeon first describes it as his former masterpiece, before using the skull drill to simulate a cerebral haemorrhage; the picture is ultimately faded out into white.
background
The Man Who Lived Twice ran in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 . The film opened in the USA on October 5, 1966, in the Federal Republic of Germany on January 6, 1967. Cinematographer James Wong Howe was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Cinematography in 1967 .
In the novel, Tony Wilson not only visits his or Arthur Hamilton's wife or "widow", but also his daughter, whose husband longs for an authoritarian America. Director Frankenheimer shot this scene, but it was not used in the film. Since the scene is considered lost, it could not be included in the extended DVD version released in the USA in 2002 . For this, the scenes of a wine festival that were cut from the original theatrical release were reinserted, in which some extras can be seen briefly naked.
synchronization
The head of the so-called company is spoken in the German version by Alfred Balthoff, known from Don Camillo and The 27th Floor .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Wilson | Rock Hudson | Gert Günther Hoffmann |
| Arthur Hamilton | John Randolph | Konrad Wagner |
| Emily Hamilton | Frances Reid | Lola Müthel |
| Head of the ominous company | Will Geer | Alfred Balthoff |
| Charlie | Murray Hamilton | Wolfgang Draeger |
| Nora Marcus | Salome Jens | Agi Prandhoff |
criticism
"Fascinating from start to finish, good performance, impressive camera work."
"Grim parable [...] The crushing ending literally pulls you six feet down."
"Fascinating, existentialist thriller classic, excellently performed."
"The clumsy, sometimes absurd implementation as a horror story gives away the very appealing initial idea."
"A conceptually impressive approach is here - unfortunately formally perfect! - to an absurd perversity with a terrible suggestive power. We have to refuse! "
literature
- David Ely: The reversed life. German book club, Berlin-Darmstadt-Vienna 1965.
Web links
- The man who lived twice in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Seconds at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- The Man Who Lived Twice in the Online Movie Database
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Man Who Lived Twice in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ Frankenheimer in the audio commentary on the DVD released in the USA in 2002.
- ↑ The man who lived twice in the German dubbing file , accessed on October 28, 2018.
- ^ "Fascinating from start to finish, with good performances, striking camerawork [...]" - Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide, Signet / New American Library, New York 2007.
- ↑ "[...] grim parable [...] The ending is so downbeat that it's positively six feet under." - Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999, Penguin, London 1998.
- ↑ Entry on Cinema.de, accessed on November 13, 2011.
- ↑ The Man Who Lived Twice in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed November 13, 2011.
- ↑ Evangelischer Filmbeobachter, Review No. 320/1966, p. 600.